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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Fantastic Mr. Fox, by Roald Dahl

This short book is about Mr. Fox, who lives in a hill with
his family. Mr. Fox regularly steals
food from three not-so-nice farmers, until they get fed up and swear to hunt
him down. When the farmers surround Mr.
Fox’s hole, his family becomes trapped inside the hill with a very real danger
of starving to death. Mr. Fox has to
devise a plan to feed his family…but how can this be done, when escaping the
hole is impossible?

I really enjoyed this book, especially the hilarious illustrations
by Quentin Blake. I believe that Mr.
Blake provided the illustrations for all of Mr. Dahl’s books, which is awesome
because it makes you feel like you’re already a little familiar with the
characters, even when you’re picking up a book you haven’t read. This was the first time that I’d read “Fantastic
Mr. Fox”, even though I’ve rest most of Mr. Dahl’s books. It was so short that it almost felt more like
a long story than anything. I’d
recommend this hilarious book as an excellent way to introduce the rest of Mr.
Dahl’s work.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the way that Mr.
Dahl shaped the plot of story around the crime of stealing. By placing Mr. Fox as the main character, he
almost made it seem like stealing was an acceptable, even admirable, way to
support your family! But what do you
think? Can you think of any times when
it might be acceptable to commit a crime like stealing? Would it make any difference if your family
was starving, and you were forced to steal to support them?